A photographer can use a film camera, digital camera or video camcorder in his/her hand. Therefore, a camera has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication, which has a hand strap for connecting the camera with a photographer's wrist, a neck strap or shoulder strap for dangling the camera from a photographer's neck or shoulder so that the camera may not be accidentally dropped on the ground and destroyed by slipping out of his/her hand.
The configuration of a conventional camera for attaching the hand strap, neck strap or shoulder strap (hereinafter, they are referred to as a “strap”) is as follows.
The description will be given of the configuration of the strap-attachment portion in the conventional camera with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a rear view of a digital camera having the strap-attachment portion, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the strap-attachment portion shown in FIG. 4.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 41 denotes a strap-attachment portion having a through hole. A strap is attached to the camera by lacing the string of the strap through the hole of the strap-attachment portion 41.
Reference numeral 42 denotes a liquid crystal display. The photographer can take images while watching an object image displayed on the liquid crystal display 42. Further, since the liquid crystal display 42 displays taken images stored in a recording medium, not shown in the figure, the photographer can check the taken images.
Reference numeral 43 denotes a plurality of operation members. It is possible to set a flash mode, a drive mode, an image size and an AF mode or enlarge the taken images displayed on the liquid crystal display 42 by operating these operation members 43.
Reference numeral 44 denotes a cover member, which covers a recording-medium slot into which the recording medium is detachably installed. The cover member 44 is swingablly attached to the camera body.
In the conventional camera, it was required to form the through hole-like opening in the camera body for providing the strap attachment portion on the camera body as shown in FIG. 5. Accordingly, the strap attachment portion requires a large space inside the camera body.
Furthermore, a camera has been disclosed, in which a strap-attachment portion having a convex shape is provided on an exterior member made of a resin, as shown in FIG. 6.
However, to provide the strap-attachment portion having the through hole on the exterior member of the camera as shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to increase the thickness of that portion of the exterior member. Therefore, the part of the exterior member, which corresponds to the strap-attachment portion, protrudes inside the camera body greater than other parts, thereby reducing the space inside the camera body. As a result, it becomes necessary to form a built-in electric circuit board having a shape for preventing the interference to the exterior member, thereby impeding the miniaturization of the camera and reducing the design freedom of interior parts of the camera.
In addition, as for the camera shown in FIG. 6, with consideration of drop of the camera and pull of the strap, it is necessary to form the strap-attachment portion 61 as an individual member made of die-casting zinc or aluminum, which is different from the exterior member. Therefore, the attachment structure for fixing the strap-attachment portion to the camera body becomes complex, thereby increasing the cost.